Colorado Springs, CO

It was this video that sparked the tour. It reignited a passion that had been dormant for a few years now. “Take your Two Cents to conferences around the U.S.,” The Lord whispered to Briauna in the middle of a coffee shop. As tears streamed down her face, the heart of Two Cents came to life again. It was this moment that rushed back in as we sat in the middle of the Desperation Conference this week. The theme of the conference was “Where There is No Way, You Make a Way.” This became our reality.

With such a strong pull from the Lord, we changed our plans and decided to stay in Colorado longer. What’s a tour without detours and rerouting? This was a time of sitting in the presence of God and letting Him love on us individually and as a team. It’s funny how we get scared to change our course because we can’t see what He’s doing right in front of our face, but right after we say yes, we always see what He was doing all along. It’s a trust thing. Why is it so hard for us to follow Him? And aren’t those the plans we’d rather go after anyway? Half of what this trip consists of is saying yes to what wasn’t in the cards. It’s those little urges that draw us down sixth street, or over to Lennie and Pam. We have seen Him show up every single time. “Be ready to drop your plans,” He forewarned us during our first time together in prayer back in Charlotte.

“Be okay with not knowing what it looks like. I’ll be right next to you to show you in due time, don’t worry.”

So that’s what we did. We dropped our agendas yet again and saw Him through the eyes of people along the way. We were blessed to stay with some of the most radical, loving, generous people we’d ever come across. It is rare that so many can sit around for hours and talk about what it means to love the poor. Discussing what it would mean to give up normalcy in order to see the gospel lived out, this couple challenged us in so many areas of our life. Would you give up your suburban home to live in a lower income community? Just to love people as lives are transformed one by one? They told us,

“We felt our need. We live in a world of self-sufficiency, where people don’t even feel their discomfort anymore. They can buy their way out of discomfort.”

As founders of HeartWork.TV, their mission is to see students lives changed as they spend themselves for the sake of orphans and the poor around the world. Their staff challenges and pushes each other in a way that screams, “I need you, God.” They will sleep on the ground instead of their bed or they will eat beans and rice for a week straight. They told us,

“When you eat beans and rice long enough, it’ll break your heart. Any of us can eat beans and rice every now and then, but when you have it day in and day out, something happens in your heart. And you realize this is so many people’s reality. This is their everyday. And you get to a place where you break. It’s where we’ve seen people’s perspectives shift.”

We left their house so refreshed and so encouraged to continue on our journey. Before we left they prayed over us, spoke words of life into us, and sent us off with overwhelmed hearts.

Before we left they told us, “Stay impractical til the day that you die. Don’t ever conform to being “normal” just to “fit-in.”